Seungju smiled, raising one corner of his mouth. He couldn’t even grasp how long it had been since he’d met someone with whom he could discuss aptitude or enjoyment without making any calculations about work. But it was an undeniable fact that he was drawn to those sparkling eyes. Seungju nodded and answered.
“If work is fun, there’s nothing better than that.”
“How about you, Seungju? Is work fun?”
For Seungju, that was a difficult question. He passed by Muyeon and stepped aside, taking another photo of the display stand he was facing away from. Pretending to look at the products, he chose his answer.
“It’s… fun.”
“That sounds like it’s really not fun.”
He wanted to be honest, but anyway, Muyeon was his superior. To emphasize once more, not just a superior but the owner of this company. So he pretended otherwise, but it seems that didn’t work very well.
“Work is fun, of course it’s fun. Otherwise I would have quit a long time ago.”
Muyeon turned around and stood beside Seungju. Feeling his gaze looking down, Seungju slowly moved his feet.
“But just… at some point, I couldn’t do the work just for fun anymore.”
“Then what else is important?”
Why are you asking something so obvious? Seungju raised his head and looked up at Muyeon.
“Money.”
Seungju raised his right hand, put his thumb and index finger together, and made a circle.
“Money. For office workers, the greatest virtue is money.”
Muyeon burst into laughter. Anyway, the fact that he laughs well is one good thing. Seungju laughed along with him and lowered his hand.
“Well, that’s a joke. There are many other things too. Benefits, sense of achievement, career, and such things and so on.”
“It didn’t sound like a joke.”
“Really? I guess I spoke with too much sincerity. That’s right, money is the best. Please raise my salary a lot.”
Muyeon was still giggling and laughing. Seungju was watching him raise his hand. His hand touched his cheek, then stopped briefly. Muyeon lightly brushed Seungju’s cheek with his finger.
Seungju realized that he had just been about to pinch Seungju’s cheek but stopped. Yeah, thank you so much for restraining yourself from skinship here where high school girls and college girls are surging like waves.
But Muyeon didn’t keep his mouth shut.
“You really are cute.”
Of course, Seungju didn’t hold back this time either. He raised his fist and lightly hit Muyeon’s arm.
“Please put your mouth in work mode, General Manager.”
***
In the end, Muyeon bought the doll he’d been holding and kneading in his hand. To be precise, Seungju bought it for him. Seeing Muyeon appear with the doll tucked between the other samples, Seungju laughed loudly in front of the checkout counter. Seungju pushed the samples he’d gathered to Muyeon and took the doll instead.
“I’ll buy it for you.”
“Why would you, Seungju?”
Unlike the content of the words, the tone and voice were really surprised. So this isn’t a defensive reaction or picking a fight. Seungju roughly interpreted Muyeon’s answer. It probably means, why are you buying it when I have money?
It’s a bit annoying, but this much is worth considering. You can’t even call it consideration, because in fact, receiving the latest high-end phone and giving a cute doll is completely unbalanced from the start. Seungju opened his payment app and held out his phone to the cashier while saying.
“I’ve gotten and received too much. If I say it like that it kills the mood, so I’ll call it a gift.”
“You’re telling me not to let the mood die after saying it all?”
“Yes.”
Muyeon accepted the doll while laughing. He smiles prettily as he answers.
“Thank you.”
This time the content, the tone, and the intention are all kind. Seungju smiled back at him.
The two agreed that rather than bothering to bring the samples back to the company, they’d just leave them loaded in Muyeon’s car and move them tomorrow morning. Muyeon naturally entered the location in the navigation and turned to look at Seungju.
“Do you like fusion Korean food?”
“I’d eat it if I had the chance.”
“As expected, it’s good that you eat well.”
“General Manager, no, Muyeon, you’re more interesting to me. Someone with such a small appetite knows so many good restaurants.”
After a brief silence, Muyeon answers.
“I studied.”
Anyway, he speaks well. Seungju chuckled. He felt like he’d asked a bad question when he could imagine why he knew well, making himself seem like the one who asked something mean.
The meal was excellent. The sujeonggwa that came out at the end was especially delicious. After drinking it all, Seungju sadly acknowledged the fact that his palate, forged by years of drinking, was now truly evolving into that of an old man.
In that regard, even if the source is obvious, the fact that Baek Muyeon has a restaurant list would be a much better thing for Seungju. Restaurants armed with sophisticated interiors, pretty plating, price ranges where it can’t not be delicious, and so on.
Restaurants he would have come to with someone who would naturally be happy to be called cute.
Why do I think such thoughts at such good moments? Of course, there were aspects of what Muyeon was doing that bothered him, but Seungju knew that his negative thoughts weren’t entirely Muyeon’s responsibility.
Seungju looked up at the setting sky while waiting outside the store for Muyeon, who was smoking.
He was thinking about the fear that had led him to say those words asking Muyeon for time to think. When did he become afraid to have expectations, to make efforts, to pour out his whole heart? When something happens, inferring bad intentions underneath it, thinking of the worst-case scenario first—when did that start? Was it since he started working at the company?
Seungju knew that just as not all the negative thoughts he’d just had were the responsibility of Muyeon’s evasiveness, saying that his entire thought process broke down because of the company was also an excuse. Some people don’t become this pessimistic even after experiencing social life. So this skeptical way of thinking might be an innate nature he possessed.
If this is a personality he was born with, the answer would be to just live the way he was made. But Seungju still thought that innate nature wasn’t the right answer either. The personality of being unable to enjoy good things as they are and always worrying about bad things—wasn’t that actually derived from acquired circumstances?
It’s a melancholy thought. Surprisingly, Seungju realized that he could still feel heartache because of these thoughts. He took a deep breath. Muyeon, who had come close, looked down at him.
“Your expression doesn’t look good.”
He’s perceptive too, really. Was he born perceptive, or is it because he’s interested in me? I’d prefer it to be the latter. Seungju smiled slightly.
“I’m tired, that’s all.”
“I’ll take you home.”
Again, at times like this, he’s quite devoted. Seungju nodded. And he thought. He hoped Muyeon didn’t know all these thoughts of his.
***
“I thought about it for a moment.”
Muyeon says as he starts the car. Seungju nods.
“About what.”
“The salary talk.”
“That was a joke… though it’s also sincere.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You don’t need to.”
Seungju stopped talking for a moment. Muyeon silently waited for him.
“I talked with the Director briefly while eating yesterday.”
“What did you talk about?”
“What else, performance reviews. He called me to sweet-talk and cajole me into asking for a good evaluation.”
“And so?”
“He said evaluations are done as evaluations. That’s not exactly what he said, but anyway, it’s similar. Come to think of it, that was the first time I’d asserted myself so openly to the Director.”
“Really?”
Seungju looked out the window that had now darkened. The road was full of cars. Looking at the situation, it seemed like it would be quite congested until Seungju’s house. Seungju leaned his head against the seat.
“Still, once I said everything I had to say like that, it felt refreshing. The Director might give me a terrible evaluation again because he thinks I’m insolent.”
“An evaluation is an evaluation.”
“The reason I’m sharpening my knife is because he’s someone who doesn’t know that, right?”
Muyeon laughed quietly. He taps the steering wheel with his finger and says.
“You speak comfortably to me, Seungju.”
“That’s…”
What he was trying to think about felt a bit embarrassing to say out loud. A moment of silence flows. Seungju slowly opened his mouth.
“Muyeon seems a bit different.”
Muyeon chuckles as if satisfied. Seungju turned his gaze back outside the window to hide his embarrassment and added.
“Anyway, what I was trying to say isn’t something else. I want the company to be fair. And reasonable. If they evaluate properly and salaries are determined according to standards based on proper evaluations, I’ll follow them.”
“I understand what you mean.”
The light changes and the car starts. The car doesn’t go far before it slows down again, crawling. Muyeon, who started tapping the steering wheel again, opened his mouth.
“Then try saying one more thing to the Director.”
“What?”
“Try saying, ‘I don’t want to’ when he asks you to eat together.”
“What?”
Seungju turned his head to Muyeon. Muyeon shrugs.
“I don’t like being dragged around either, but I can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“Would that man who loves his dignity just let it go if he hears ‘I don’t want to’ from a subordinate in front of everyone? You can’t handle the aftermath.”
“You said it felt refreshing to say everything you had to say.”
Seungju snorted. He was dumbfounded. Muyeon’s words were always puzzling, but right now Seungju had no mind to interpret his words as anything more than picking a fight.
“Look, Muyeon. Is the only solution to a superior’s stubbornness for a subordinate to clash with them? Can’t a superior just not act like an old-fashioned person on their own? Why are you telling me to say I don’t like it or I like it?”
“Hmm… it’s difficult.”
“What is?”
“When I listen to you, Seungju, it seems like you oppose injustice and absurdity, but in some ways you seem obedient.”
Seungju was at a loss for words. Muyeon’s words seemed right but also seemed wrong. But it was frustrating that he couldn’t immediately think of words to refute. He was instantly irritated. He could feel his mood worsening even more because the melancholy emotions from earlier hadn’t all left, but there was nothing he could do. Seungju brought up the question he’d had from earlier.
